Carol's Chickens

There was a lot less drama today. After Topaz having a determination to be in the nest box at bedtime yesterday she showed no interest at all this morning. It’s as if it’s totally forgotten.

While all the girls were pottering about Honey was just sitting as she often does these days. I can definitely tell she is older than the rest of the flock by the way looks and behaves.

Honey is looking her age.

I have taken to sometimes leaving my camera in the store cabinet so that if there is a moment happening I have my camera to hand. I took the photo of Honey, leaving the store cabinet door open, and when I turned round this is what I saw.

Emerald checks out the store cabinet

These girls are so nosey and of course they also know that the treats come from here. I love seeing Emerald upright and yesterday couldn’t capture a photo of her comb but here you can see that it is pink even though her face is white. I love seeing her stretch her long neck. She often looks comical when in this pose but I don’t often get to capture it.

Meanwhile Barley was having a scratch around in the nest box. It has been a week since she laid her first egg which is the gap she had last year before the second one.

Later in the afternoon Topaz was missing. She was in the nest box but came running out to see if I had bought any treats in. There in the nest box was a small white egg. I am pretty sure this is Barley’s egg and Topaz just went in to sit on it. It’s the white colour and small size of Barley’s eggs, although I have no eggs at the moment to compare it with.

I checked back on a photo of Topaz first two eggs last year along side a shop bought one and they were quite large, almost as big as the shop bought egg. This egg is very small so I think it is Barley’s egg.

Topaz showed no more interest in the nest box once I had removed the egg and went to bed as usual tonight.

I keep looking at Butterscotch’s head to see if there are any more missing feathers but it is really difficult to say. I think she may have lost some more but I keep comparing photos and it’s really difficult to see. This is really bugging me at the moment but there is nothing I can do about it.

Only time will tell and I can only hope this doesn’t beyond her losing her crest.

Today I thought I would take some close up portraits of the girls to show how their combs are changing.

Peaches close up

Barley’s close up

Barley laid her first egg a week ago and Peaches has yet to start. You can see by the photos above that although Peaches comb is starting to get red it isn’t nearly as big and as red as Barley’s comb. Barley’s comb is always bigger than Peaches anyway but you can see that even despite this Peaches isn’t quite there yet.

Butterscotch is having a dust bath

Butterscotch has a black comb so it’s difficult to see any changes in her comb. As she was having a lovely dust bath while I was taking these photos I decided to include this one of her.

Speckles close up

Speckles comb is getting redder but isn’t as red as Topaz, Peaches and Barley’s.

Honey’s close up

Honey’s comb has just a little pink in it.

Emerald’s close up

Emerald has a really tiny comb and it is always pale. I think it looks more pale because she has a white face.

Toffee’s close up

Toffee’s comb is quite pale too but has a bit more colour than Emerald’s.

Topaz close up

Topaz has a very bright comb and is spending a lot of time in the nest box practising. She has just come out of the nest box and Barley is on top of the nest box watching her. You can just see her head in the top left hand corner.

Topaz is in the nest box so some of the girls gather on top of the nest box

It is really funny how interested all the girls are when Topaz is in the nest box. At times today Peaches and Barley would go and look at her in the nest box and Topaz would come out shouting angrily. She is one angry bird and can’t stand to be watched when she is in the nest box.

And here she is

A little later Peaches checks on Topaz

She looks so cute when she is looking in the nest boxes

Topaz spent all afternoon in the nest box with no egg laid. She came out for the bedtime corn then returned to the nest box.

At dusk I checked on the girls and they were all in apart from Topaz who was still in the nest box.

When this happens with Butterscotch it’s easy as she is a docile girl. I simply pick her up and place her on the perch in the chicken shed.

Topaz is a totally different girl. She has always been our angry girl. I tried to pick her up but she pecked me and ran out of the nest box past me. I felt sure as it was nearly dark she would soon head to the chicken shed so I shut the nest boxes and waited. No way was she going in and she headed out to the garden part of the run even though it was almost dark.

I tempted her back with a trail of corn and as the automatic door had now closed I propped it open with my chicken door stop. I tried to guide her towards the pop hole but she was determined not to go in and kept trying to dodge past me. In desperation I used the net to catch her and put her through the pop hole.

The net is a fishing net that I keep hanging by the chicken shed door because Topaz goes broody often and pecks me so I use it to ease her out of the nest box for breaks to eat, drink and scratch or dust bath. I can pick up all the other girls but Topaz has always been the only girl that pecks in anger. As I have often said she is a unique girl and that brings its own trials.

I could hear her making noises, as if she was upset, from the shed floor as it was too dark to get to the perch. I wedged the torch under the pop hole to give her some light. This worked a treat and she jumped up to the perch and settled. I checked that they were all settled and removed the torch and closed the door.

I wonder if other people have these sort of dramas. Topaz is behaving like a broody but she hasn’t laid an egg yet. I wonder what drama tomorrow will bring.

I decided to move the small nest boxes to the floor instead of on top of the large nest boxes. I think this will make them easier to access for the girls.

We moved the storage cabinet along a bit to make room for them.

The small nest boxes are in a new position

I think they will be better on the floor

Luckily the chicken shed door just swings over the top of the small nest boxes.

Speckles checks out the new arrangement

Speckles is checking out the nest box

I think Speckles may start laying soon. She came into the chicken shed this morning while I was poop picking and was much more vocal than usual. She checked out all of the nest boxes later this morning.

Both her and Topaz have been checking out the nest boxes so it will be interesting to see who lays first.

Topaz settled in the bigger nest box and I thought she might finally lay her first egg of the year.

Topaz is settled in the nest box

Butterscotch looked like she wanted to go in too

I felt sure Butterscotch wanted to get in the nest box too but after a few minutes she gave up and went to one of the perches in the run. Perhaps she was just being nosey.

It did give me the chance to get a close up of her comb though.

Butterscotch’s poor comb and head

When I first saw some blood spots in the chicken shed I checked all the girl’s combs and couldn’t see any sign of pecking. Now that Butterscotch is missing some head feathers I can see a spot of dried blood on the tip of her comb and at the base of her feathers where there are some missing. You can see from this photo how difficult it is to see this against the black colour of her comb.

I feel so sorry for her but she seems her usual self and it doesn’t seem to be bothering her. She chased Barley away just after I took this photo.

I will make sure that she is not next to Honey at bedtime for a while. I think that what probably happened is that Honey pecked her comb and made it bleed. If there were spots of blood on her comb and her head feathers this probably attracted Honey to pulling them out. I am surmising of course but knowing chicken’s behaviour this seems most likely.

Meanwhile Honey was having a lovely dust bath and Speckles really wanted to join her. These two do seem to spend time together and have a bit of an alliance with each other. Peaches and Barley often chase Speckles from the dust bath and yesterday was no exception. I sometimes call them “the mean girls”.

Speckles wants to dust bath with Honey

She almost manages it

But Barley chases her away

Topaz then came out of the nest box shouting her head off. I went to check and once more there was no egg. Topaz is such an odd girl or should that be “unique”!

At bedtime I checked and Butterscotch and Honey were next to each other so I moved Butterscotch to a different position. Honey then gave Barley a peck on the comb so I am sure she is the culprit and my theory is probably correct. I felt sorry for Barley but as soon as it gets darker she won’t be able to peck her and at the moment Butterscotch needs protection the most.

Just when I think things are running smoothly there always seems to be more drama.

Topaz practised laying throughout December and the first half of January and then stopped. It was as if she suddenly realised that she was practising too early and gave up.

This morning she was very vocal and had a look in the small nest box. She looked quite cross as if she felt that the small nest box wasn’t up to standard for her.

I opened up the large nest box and she went straight to it to have a look.

Topaz has been looking in the small nest box

I opened up the big nest box for her

She went in briefly but was soon back out again and still being very vocal. I think she may be getting ready to start laying again but you can never be sure with Topaz. She does need an awful lot of practice.

Speckles is getting a lovely red comb and wattles.

Speckles is getting a lovely red comb.

Speckles looks in the nest box

Speckles is looking in the nest box. I think it may not be long before Speckles starts laying.

It sometimes seems that when ever I think things are going smoothly there is always another problem round the corner to throw a spanner in the works.

Every morning when I poop pick the chicken shed I always do a quick inspection of the perches and the walls of the shed just to check that there are no dreaded red mite.

For the last couple of mornings I have spotted little splashes of blood on the back of the shed, chicken head height, behind the perch. I know there is some pecking at bedtime (sometimes it seems quite brutal) and I inspected all the girls combs to see if they had been pecked. I couldn’t see any peck marks and was perplexed as to what was going on here.

Yesterday I thought that Butterscotch was having a bad hair day and put out this photo.

Butterscotch is having a bad hair day (yesterday)

This afternoon I realised this wasn’t just a bad hair day after all. Butterscotch is missing some head feathers and there is a spot of blood on her comb where the feathers have gone but with her comb being black it’s very very difficult to see. Yesterday her feathers looked swept back by the wind (and it was very windy yesterday) but I now think that the missing feathers in front of the swept back ones gave this appearance.

Today more feathers have gone and it has become more noticeable.

Butterscotch is missing head feathers

From a different angle

I have looked back at the recent photos of the bedtime line up and the blood spots are in the middle of the shed which is where Butterscotch perches and she is next to Honey in the last few photos.

I have watched the girls whenever I could today and haven’t seen any plucking. I am coming to the conclusion that it is probably Honey plucking her head feathers at bedtime and that has caused the blood spots.

I am so horrified by this. I have had this sort of problem in the past and can’t bare the thought of it happening again. I also know how impossible it can be to stop this behaviour.

I decided that tonight if Butterscotch was perched next to Honey that I would pick her up and move her to another spot on the perch. However Butterscotch solved the problem for now by perching between Topaz and Speckles so no action needed.

Tomorrow morning I will clean away the blood spots in the shed. I need to do this in the morning so that any damp patches have the day to dry. I will then be able to tell if there are any new spots.

I am hoping this is a phase (Butterscotch’s hair do may be irresistible) and that it will pass. I can’t bring myself to contemplate what it would mean if it develops in to full scale feather plucking. This is actually my biggest worry amongst my flock because of the past history. Honey was the only member that was part of the flock during that time and I hope this isn’t a behaviour that she is remembering and continuing.

I have to just hope this will pass because otherwise I don’t know what I could do next. I will be watching the situation very closely.

Butterscotch is having a bad day. She is often sporting a spiky hair style from standing under some drips but today it was really windy and it dried like this.

Butterscotch is having a bad hair day

Last night I put the corn pot down while I checked something and all the girls immediately started pecking at the tub but I didn’t have my camera.

Tonight I couldn’t resist putting the pot down while I had my camera. A bit of a tease, I know, but I gave them an extra bit of corn to make up for it.

I put the corn pot down and all the girls ran to it

Toffee was the first to peck at the lid.

The girls can’t work it out

Topaz has a peck at the side of the pot

Emerald has a peck at the lid

She tries the side of the pot

If they could only work out how to get the lid off they would have a feast. It’s a good job the pot has sturdy clips around the lid. What fun they would have if they could open this.

Yesterday I gave the girls some yogurt as a treat. I put it in four dishes with two spaced out on the patio area and one on each of the two wooden blocks. Despite spreading them out like this seven of the girls went to the four different dishes and it looked as if Speckles was still going to miss out.

Speckles really wanted some of the yogurt. She suddenly got braver and decided to try to take some.

Speckles is getting braver

Speckles gets some yogurt

Well done Speckles

I was so pleased to see her getting braver and getting her share of the yogurt. Well done Speckles!

Butterscotch was back in the nest box first thing this morning so I decided to lift her out and shut all the nest boxes. I would like to break her of being broody as quickly as possible and I hoped this would be before the other girls started laying. I felt this would be the last time I could do this as once there are other girls laying I will just have to let her be broody but make sure she comes out several times a day. Usually if I shut her out of the nest boxes she loses interest in just a couple of days.

Butterscotch is looking for the nest box

Butterscotch beside the blocked smaller nest boxes

I blocked the smaller nest boxes as I felt that if she went in one of these I wouldn’t easily be able to get her out again.

A disgruntled Butterscotch

Butterscotch decides to sit next to the smaller nest boxes

Barley checks her out

Barley then went into the chicken shed and started scratching around in there. I wondered if she was getting ready to lay and decided to put one of the smaller nest boxes in the chicken shed in the hope that if she did want to lay she would use that.

A little later my husband was by the chicken run when he heard a commotion. He said Barley was standing over an egg besides the food dish. Once again I felt really guilty that I had closed the nest boxes just as a girl wanted to lay.

It did prove that yesterday’s egg was Butterscotch’s though. Butterscotch’s eggs are a beige colour and are round. Peaches and Barley’s eggs are pure white and are oval. This first egg was long and slim. It doesn’t always show up in a photograph so I took one of the eggs laying down and one of the eggs stood up.

Barley’s egg is on the left and Butterscotch’s egg is on the right

Barley’s egg is quite different from Butterscotch’s egg

Now that she has laid her egg I will leave the nest boxes closed until at least mid morning tomorrow. Last year Barley started laying a week and a half before Peaches and missed a few days between eggs before getting into her stride so I may just have time to dissuade Butterscotch from sitting in the nest boxes. I will have to keep an eye on Barley and make a decision as we go along.